Bake Oven Knob 2 miles North of Germansville, Pennsylvania, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 08, 2025 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 9.17 hours
Official Counter: AB
Observers: Ed Sinkler, Guitar Dave, Travis Rennig
Visitors: Travis “Golden” Rennig joined me first in the morning after the rain cleared out. He was great help spotting migrants and I appreciated him finding all my gear that blew off the OP and down the cliff during the survey. Ed Sinkler joined us next and was just in time to see our 2nd GE of the season. We were joined by Guitar Dave late in the count and I appreciate Dave’s late evening contributions to our daily total. Between the 4 of us dressed in our finest stone camouflage we got some killer looks at many raptors taking swipes at BG. I needed a good day experiencing migration with good friends to get me grounded again.
As we enter the slower part of the season and visitation diminishes drastically, I am only updating the tally 3 times a day. Once first thing in the morning to let folks know I am up counting. I will then update at noon people time. I will then update as I am leaving the count at the end of the day. That way I am not wasting time hopping in and out of the wi fi hot spot when I could be getting little zippers moving through.
4 hikers
Weather: It must have rained pretty good overnight into the morning as there were some good-sized puddles on the hike in to Bake Oven Knob. Rain was light until about 09:30 when it stopped. The ceiling was high in the morning which allowed for the flight to get underway quickly. NW winds for the entire count at 8-12 mph. Visibility was excellent for the entire count at 30 miles. Mostly cloudy skies for the morning giving way to partly cloudy skies by 11:00. Low temperature of 12C at 08:00 and a high of 16C by 14:00.
Raptor Observations: South Lookout .5 hrs
North Lookout 8.67 hrs
9.17 hrs (460.45)
BV 3 (148) TV 12 (842) BE 13 (275) SS 40 (967) CH 7 (94) RT 2 (163) GE 1 (2) AK 14 (110) ML 9 (53) PG 1 (35) UR 14 (154) Total 116 (17909)
BAEA (13): 08:59 A, 09:13 I, 09:22 A, 09:26 A, 10:09 A, 10:43 A (2), 10:44 A, 10:50 I, 11:37 I, 13:13 I, 14:22 A, 15:06 U
GOEA (1): 12:49 SA
PEFA (1): 14:56 A
After the rain diminished at the top of the 08:00 hour I noticed a local RT kiting in the wind over the notch. Judging on how strong the winds were and where the first raptor of the day was spotted, I decided to hurriedly move down to the N Lookout. The move paid off as I spotted a SS naked eye as I was getting BG into position. From 09:00 – noon we cruised along at 16 migrating raptors an hour. Some of the smaller raptors like the SS’s and AK’s hugged pretty tight to the N side of the notch. A few came through and took complimentary swipes at BG. The larger raptors like CH and the eagles were further out off the ridge over the valley. At 12:49 Travis located a GE feeding in nicely over the notch and we lucked out as it cruised directly overhead. We all got excellent looks at this nice sub adult. GE’s can be a little skittish so it helped that we were all in muted colors and tucked down nicely in the rocks. As the day progressed many of the smaller raptors were venturing much further out off the ridge and it helped to have a nice band of clouds to pick them out against.
At 10:29 a resident adult male AK was spotted in close to the OP that eventually moved up ridge over the notch. At 10:30 an adult and juvenile BE were spotted over the notch and both moved up ridge. At 11:26 an adult RT was spotted kiting over the notch and this individual was spotted throughout the day. At 14:58 Head Honcho a resident juvenile PEFA made a surprise appearance coming in hard on BG. When I got on it naked eye it had literally zipped through feet above Ed’s head. It was so close I got an excellent look at its pale blue grey eye ring. It then zipped out over the notch and took a swipe at one of the local RT’s kiting over the notch who was unaware of the falcon’s approach. We were all impressed with its maneuverability and I am happy it finally worked up the courage to take a swipe at BG.
Non-raptor Observations: Tough to hear the local mountain birds over the high winds. Some nice large flocks of CANG flying sky high over Lehigh Gap late in the afternoon.
Canada Goose 184 Red-bellied Woodpecker 2 Pileated Woodpecker 1 Northern Flicker 1 Blue Jay 2 American Crow 1 Common Raven 4 Tree Swallow 26 Carolina Wren 1 Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 2
Predictions: Sunny, with a high near 58. North wind around 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
Likely could be another North Lookout day. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Adam Richardson (<poecile.gambeli...>) Bake Oven Knob information may be found at: www.lgnc.org
